How to tile (ceramic) a bathroom ceiling?

Asked Oct 29, 2006, 01:25 AM
—
9 Answers

My basement bathroom ceiling is very low (7ft), especially over the shower/tub area. As a result, I am installing ceramic tile on the ceiling because of the moisture thing. I'm already using the same 12x12 ceramic tile on the floor and walls. This tile is recommended for floor or walls. I attached 1/4" Hardibacker Cement Board to the ceiling in prep for the tiling.

1.) Is the 1/4" Hardibacker Cement Board OK for this application? I used it before for tiling, but with smaller tiles and it worked good.
2.) Can the Hardibacker Board support the weight of 12x12 ceramic tile?
3.) What are some key techniques for tiling a ceiling?
4.) Do you do a couple tiles (4?) at a time and then put a piece of plywood up and wedge a 2x4, 2x2 up and let dry? Fyi.. before when I tiled a ceiling, I tiled the backerboard on the ground leaving a few off so I could attach it and then lifted the whole backerboard up with the tiles on it, but that was with smaller tiles. I don't think this can work in this application.
5.) Do you apply the thinset to the tile first then put on the ceiling?
6.) What type of thinset do you recommend for ceiling application?
7.) What type of trowel do you recommend (U or V shaped)? How big?
8.) How much thinset do you apply to the tile or backerboard?
9.) How do you grout the ceiling and get the grout to stay up and not make a big mess all over the place?
10.) What type of grout do you recommend?
11.) I am going to use the same 12x12 tile from the ceiling & walls on the floor. I plan to use 1/4" spacers on the floor. Is there a problem with using 1/4" spacers for the wall and ceiling also? That way all the grout joints line up.
12.) The place where the ceiling tile meets up with the wall tiles, do I grout that joint? Or do I just use caulk?
13.) What type of spacer do I use at this joint if I am using 1/4" everywhere else? I would prefer not to caulk a 1/4" gap.
14.) On the floor tile, do I grout between the tub base and the floor tile or do I just run the tile up to the base of the tub about 1/8" away and then caulk it?
15.) The wall trim tile that I am going to use at the base of the wall, do I put a spacer between the floor tile and the bottom of the wall trim tile? Do I stay consistant with the 1/4" spacer?
16.) Do I grout or caulk between the floor tile and the wall trim tile?
17.) Should I seal the grout on the ceiling, walls and floor? What do you recommend?
18.) Do you typically continue the floor tile under the vanity?
19.) When tiling up to door to the bathroom, do you run the tile under the door casing or do you run it up to the edge of it?

1) you should be using 1/2" hardi board on all walls and ceilings. 1/4" is yse for floors. Youy may get deflection w/ 1/4" Hardi.
2) 1/2", yes
3) try to make sure your grout lines line up with all walls. If this is not possible the easy fix would be install the ceiling tiles at a 45 degree angle. Then you don't have to worry about joints on all walls lining up.
4) with the premix thinset made for wall tile, this stuff really sticks. What you can do is stick a tile to the ceiling and try to pull it off. It should be difficult to do. Unless your using heavy tiles, no support should be needed
5) Apply thinset to the ceiling w/ the knotched trowel. If you want to "butter" the tiles make sure to use the knotched trowel
6) I've used Mapei Premix. Its not rated for constant water but your talking about a ceiling. It is not for tile larger than 12x12.
7) For those big tiles you may need a square knotch trowel. See what the tile place recommends
8) When you spread thinset w/ the trowel cover the area evenly
9) Use un-sanded grout and follow the directions on the box. Don't make the grout too soupy. It should just slide off the grout trowel. It will be a little messy but it will stay up.
10) non-sanded for wall and ceiling
11) 1/4" spacers will leave you with a 3/8" joiont when finished. You may want to use a 1/8" spacer for smaller joints
12) grout then caulk
13) you can butt the corner tiles together.
14) leave the 1/8" joint then caulk. Grout usually fills this joint first don't worry, caulk after grouting
15) run the wall tile to the floor, caulk the joint
16) can do both
17) yes, Stand n' Seal
18) if you can, do it
19) Under the door casing if you can. Use a paiece of tile as a spacer, then use a dove tail saw to cut the jambs

4.You could tile the backerboard on the ground and then lift the whole backerboard up with the tiles on it and screw to the studs in the joint space between tiles(if joint space can fit screw head only!)
If joint space you choose is small and can not fit screw head ,you may stick a tile to the ceiling using thinset and support the tiles by 4 scruws around each tile in the joint space so that heads of screws(wheach is bigger than space)will just gently touch side of tile.

16. Avoid caulk inside of shower or around buthtab. Over a month it will be a black mold under the coulk. Use grout only.
10. Usage of un-sanded or sanded grout depends on joint space between tiles. Read instructions on the grout box/bag.

Use flexbond 2 thinset and you will need no braces to hold tile up this stuff works great. If you do not believe me lay one tile on a ceiling pressing it in good wait 2 min and then try to pull it off. The only thing you need to worry about is the tile sliding I have laid tile on 45 digree angels upside down and never used braces. As for the guy that suggested laying the tile on the backer board and then screwing it up, hahaha what a joke only do this if you want to waste a bunch of money and have broken tile everywhere. I get a kick out of the advise that people give on here that have no idea what they are talking about...

Add your answer here.

Check out some similar questions!

I have a brand new house built 5 months ago. I can hear random knocks and single bangs in my attached bath and bedroom ceiling. The bathroom sounds metallic, and the ceiling sounds like something is hitting my roof. As if its in the attic or someone threw a rock on my roof. I kept convincing...

Due to a cast iron toilet flange that sticks up approximately 1" after old tile/mortar removal, I need to build up an underlayment. The subfloor is 3/4" plywood 16" oc. I am thinking about putting down a 5/8 layer of plywood and than 1/4 cement backerboard to get level with flange for tiling....

I am in th process of removing ceramic tile from my back porch. We are having a pool installed and need the slab scraped clean so they can float it install acrylic deck. I was told by the contractor that the surface needed to be as smooth as possible.
Removing the tile was not difficult, I...

Hi, my husband just recently Tiled our bathroom floor, and he just grouted the tile yesterday, how long will it need to dry before being able to get wet (like if we use the bathtub/shower) and also is it necessary to seal the grout? He says it's not but I have read on the internet otherwise? ...

Hello - I am putting in a ceramic tile floor in a bathroom and plan on cutting the tiles and using them for a baseboard. Is there a correct size that this baseboard should be? And should I put anything on the top edge of the tile to finish it off? Any information would be appreciated. Thanks!